


i really (really really really really really) like you

by amaelamin



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Competitive Dating, Established Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Getting Together, Idiots in Love, M/M, Pink-Haired Na Jaemin, Romantic Fluff, Valentine's Day, yes that's a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:53:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23928709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaelamin/pseuds/amaelamin
Summary: “When are you going to ask him out for real? So you can challenge these two idiots to a couple-off the way you so desperately want to do?” Renjun asked drily.“I’m working on it,” Donghyuck grumbled, going pink. “Don’t rush me.”“Yup, you’ve only been working on it for - how long, Jeno?” Renjun turned to him.“Five months and three weeks,” Jeno answered.“Six months tomorrow, actually,” Jaemin corrected. “The anniversary of the legendary day Lee Donghyuck met the love of his life at Vocal Club tryouts and lost his shit so badly he ran out the door.”
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Moon Taeil, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 49
Kudos: 373





	i really (really really really really really) like you

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH I KNOW THIS IS A DAY LATE BUT I STILL LOVE YOU. i hope this does your brief justice and i hope you are happy every day of your life.
> 
> the superstition mentioned is something i grew up with and has to do with the goddess chang 'er in the moon. it's rude to point at her so if you do it's said she will cut off your ear/cut it. i'm not sure korea shares this same myth but i thought it'd be something cute to put in.

“There they go again,” Renjun sighed, looking away from Jeno and Jaemin leaning against the sink ‘washing dishes’, which in their vocabulary stood for ‘sucking face’. “I’m so sick of them. How long before the honeymoon phase wears off and they start fighting?”

“So we can then listen to them having make-up sex in addition to regular sex?” Donghyuck snorted. “No, thanks.”

“Maybe we can institute punishments,” Renjun perked up eagerly. “No gross displays of physical affection in the apartment or they’ll have to take over all our chores for the whole week.”

“They’d probably be happy to do it,” Donghyuck rolled his eyes. “More time to spend together playing house and being annoyingly domestic.”

“That’s so disgusting,” Renjun whispered, traumatised, into his iced coffee. 

“One? We can hear you. And two - you’re just salty,” Jaemin bopped Renjun on the head as him and Jeno took their places at the small dining table, post-dinner. “Just because we’re the cutest couple on campus and probably the world. You’re jealous.”

“I have no emotions,” Renjun intoned. “Much less gross sappy ones that would allow me to be jealous of the two of you swapping saliva and other bodily fluids every chance you get.”

“Not a romantic bone in his body,” Jeno shook his head sadly, stealing Renjun’s coffee. Renjun smacked his hand hard and took it back.

“‘Cutest couple on campus’, my ass,” Donghyuck rolled his eyes again for emphasis. “You know Taeil hyung and I would totally annihilate you if there was ever a real competition for that. There’s nothing for me to be salty about.”

“Here’s a thought - how about you call me when the two of you actually start dating?” Jaemin raised an eyebrow as Renjun and Jeno exchanged twin _here we go again_ looks. “One-sided shameless flirting doesn’t count as being in a relationship.”

“We _would_ beat you, if we were,” Donghyuck argued insistently. 

“That makes no sense. You have no idea what kind of boyfriend he’d be.”

“Shut up, he’d be perfect. Attentive but not clingy. Sweet and affectionate but not gross like you two. He’d be a dream.”

“A ‘dream’ is right, I guess,” Jaemin told him with fake sympathy. “Since that’s all you can do about it.”

“When are you going to ask him out for real? So you can challenge these two idiots to a couple-off the way you so desperately want to do?” Renjun asked drily. 

“I’m working on it,” Donghyuck grumbled, going pink. “Don’t rush me.”

“Yup, you’ve only been working on it for - how long, Jeno?” Renjun turned to him. 

“Five months and three weeks,” Jeno answered.

“Six months tomorrow, actually,” Jaemin corrected. “The anniversary of the legendary day Lee Donghyuck met the love of his life at Vocal Club tryouts and lost his shit so badly he ran out the door.”

“ _I was late for my next orientation activity_ ,” Donghyuck stressed. “I did not run out because of him. How many times do I have to say this?”

“I was there,” Renjun reminded him helpfully. “I saw you turn around, see him, drop your music score sheets, totally ignore his greeting, and run away.”

Donghyuck seethed in silence.

“So, you know,” Jaemin held eye contact while giving Jeno a lingering, satisfied kiss on the cheek. “Time’s a-ticking. Chop chop.”

*

“Donghyuck.”

“Hmm.”

“ _Hyuck._ ”

“Hmm.”

Renjun picked up his music binder and solidly thwapped Donghyuck on the shoulder with it.

“ _Ow?!_ ”

“Stop staring at him and fucking focus, will you? We have to get this part down before we regroup.”

“I wasn’t staring at him,” Donghyuck grumbled, tearing his eyes away from across the room before getting back to his lyrics. 

“Don’t even try it,” Renjun shot back, unimpressed. “At this rate I’m going to force him to go out with you just so you can stop acting like such a dumbass.”

“You know, you talk such a big game but I bet if you were interested in someone you would be just as big a dumbass as me,” Donghyuck hissed back.

“I am above such things, as you know,” Renjun replied sweetly. “Therefore you will continue to be the only dumbass half of this best-friendship.”

“‘Above such things’,” Donghyuck scoffed. “Also, bold of you to presume I will stop acting like a dumbass if he ever agreed to go on a date with me for real. If anything I bet the dumbassery would increase double.”

“Your self-awareness is commendable. I’m proud of you,” Renjun nodded. “Anyway, if you want to stop being teased about it at home then you should stop goading Jaemin. I don’t get why the two of you have to get competitive over something as stupid as this.”

“We’re competitive people,” Donghyuck shrugged. “This is how we bond.”

“Also stupid,” Renjun repeated, though not un-fondly. “So what, then, you’re just going to pine from afar and flirt from a-near forever? Really?”

“Funny how you hit me for not focusing and now all you want to do is talk about my love life,” Donghyuck pointed out. “Aren’t we supposed to be rehearsing these harmonies?”

“You don’t have a love life. That’s kind of the point. Also-”

Renjun broke off and went silent together with half the room as Taeil and Jaehyun on the other side of the room began to practise their lines, singing them right through to the end and finished up smiling at each other. 

Renjun could feel Donghyuck melting in despair next to him, deflating with a long and lovesick sigh like a burst balloon. 

“His voice is perfect.”

“That it is,” Renjun could not disagree. It was a fact. 

“He hit every note so perfectly.”

Renjun nodded again.

“Jaehyun hyung is a whore.”

Renjun burst out laughing before he could stifle it, clapping a hand over his mouth and avoiding the curious gazes of those who’d turned back to look at them. 

“They’re just singing together!” he wheezed at Donghyuck who was now staring daggers at the way Jaehyun had his hand on Taeil’s shoulder as they broke down the next few bars of their piece. 

“He’s undressing my man with his eyes,” Donghyuck declared. “He’s a sultry-voiced demon. Nobody looks that good _and_ sounds that good too. He’s a whore demon.”

“I can’t with you,” Renjun inhaled, trying to calm down. “You know he’s got a girlfriend, right?”

“That makes it even worse! Too bad for his demonic wiles that I’ve got Taeil hyung all to myself for the next hour after practice.”

“During which time you will achieve absolutely nothing in the way of getting him to go out with you or even notice you as a romantic prospect as usual,” Renjun continued smoothly. “Neither will you have him all to yourself as you seem to have forgotten that he tutors you together with Tweedledum and Tweedledee.”

“I’m gonna tell them you called them that,” Donghyuck retorted. “And he always sits beside _me_ , okay? I know that means something.”

“Okay, Tweedledumbest,” Renjun nodded amiably. “Can we please do this piece now?”

The remaining half hour of practice went by far more quickly than Donghyuck would have liked - for all that he spent a ridiculous amount of time during Club sessions staring adoringly at and listening worshipfully to Taeil he really did love singing, and especially singing with Renjun. The Taeil visuals and audio were just a giant bonus. 

“He’s coming over. Take a deep breath and don’t be a fool,” Renjun whispered as he packed up to go to his next class and Donghyuck got ready for his weekly math tutoring with Taeil (and Jaemin and Jeno, but that part of the equation wasn’t important.)

Donghyuck’s brain began to fizz just like it did every time Taeil came near him. These tutoring sessions - _dates_ , Donghyuck called them in the privacy of his mind - were a blessing sent from heaven, but also mainly Renjun because it was due to his best friend’s scheming that Taeil had even agreed to help tutor the three of them for extra credit. Donghyuck supposed that made Renjun God, though he would never admit it. Renjun had enough power over him already.

The only snag in the plan was having the Siamese twins along for the ride - but they were a necessary nuisance because Taeil’s math major tutoring credits arrangement regarding freshmen only counted if it was for three or more students, and they _were_ all taking the same introductory math modules. Donghyuck sighed. You win some, you lose some. 

“Ready, Hyuckie?” 

Donghyuck prepared himself, and turned around. He felt only partly bowled over by having Taeil smiling at him this close, which was a major improvement over the days when he could barely even maintain eye contact with him. 

“Hello, handsome,” he smiled back, adjusting his tote bag more comfortably on his shoulder. “Let’s go.” 

“Bye, _Hyuckie_ ,” Renjun sweetly waved him goodbye, and didn’t miss the middle finger Donghyuck sent him behind Taeil’s back as they walked out together.

Soft black hair cut simply because he wasn’t the type to care too much about how he looked. Small silver hoop earrings in both ears. Wore shorts and sneakers no matter what the weather and had the best damn legs Donghyuck had ever seen on anyone in his entire life. Really unironically liked math. Had a younger sister, and loved Stevie Wonder. Was a senior but never pulled rank nor cared about hyung-dongsaeng norms. Was shorter than Donghyuck by a few centimetres yet carried himself with the quiet confidence and charisma of someone twenty centimetres taller: various Taeilisms jumped out at Donghyuck as they talked and walked to their usual study room, things that he knew and re-noticed every time they met running through his brain. He’d known Taeil for six full months - Donghyuck scowled internally at Jaemin - and they texted and had lunch sometimes outside of meeting for Vocal Club and tutoring, but the store of real things he’d found out about Taeil was pathetically small thanks to the fact that Donghyuck just never dared initiate really serious conversations with him. Moon Taeil was so, so far out of Donghyuck’s league it was laughable; Donghyuck could flirt all he wanted and Taeil never, ever rejected his advances but he never engaged with them either, and the whole effect of this was that Donghyuck always felt kept at arm’s length even when he was practically hanging off Taeil.

(“He’s like a sponge. A beautiful sponge,” Donghyuck, one too many beers in, tried explaining to Renjun once. “Whatever I do he just sits there and smiles at me and he never looks annoyed or grossed out, but he’s just a sponge. He doesn’t do anything _back_. What if I’m just some ridiculous dongsaeng to him but he’s too nice to tell me to get lost?”

“I know the feeling,” Renjun said, stroking Donghyuck’s hair. “I can’t get rid of you, either.”)

Donghyuck sighed. He was getting fed up with being in this holding pattern that seemed to be going nowhere but he was even more fed up at how he didn’t want to move on and find someone who _would_ date him. What happened to the Donghyuck he used to be who always got whom and what he wanted? He was devolving as a human being. 

“You okay?” Taeil asked, noting Donghyuck’s sigh. 

“Yeah,” Donghyuck smiled back quickly. “Just a bit tired?” 

“Just a bit?” Taeil grinned. “With midterms so near I’d be surprised if you weren’t.”

“Even though it’s my second semester already I’ll never get used to having so much work at one go,” Donghyuck pouted a little, and then pouted some more. Usually the power of his cuteness meant game over for whomever he was pursuing but it slid uselessly off Taeil like water off a duck’s back. 

“You’ll be fine, come on,” Taeil opened the study room door and put a hand on Donghyuck’s lower back to guide him through. Donghyuck tried his best not to whimper at the warm contact. “You’re smart, and you know you grasp concepts really fast. I’m honestly not sure why you need me to tutor you.” 

“No, I definitely need you to tutor me,” Donghyuck said quickly. “I’m really bad at math. All types of math.” 

“Are you?” Taeil smiled. “Could’ve fooled me.” 

Donghyuck got lost in his smile for a while as they came to a stop near a table, feeling a blush creep up his neck. Was he not pretending to be math-dumb enough? Dammit. 

“Hi,” Jaemin said pointedly from the table they were standing next to, making Donghyuck jump and look away.

Donghyuck avoided both Jeno and Jaemin’s eyes as he sat down, Taeil saying his hellos and pulling Jeno’s textbook towards himself to begin their session. Donghyuck thought about how it was a given now that Jeno and Jaemin would sit together on one side of the table and Donghyuck and Taeil on the other, and Donghyuck didn’t know what he should feel about that especially when barely ten minutes in the Human Velcro Twins had already started holding hands on top of the table as they listened to Taeil explain a problem set. 

Donghyuck glared hard at their joined hands as his own empty hand nearest Taeil started to itch. Jaemin, noticing, began to caress Jeno’s thumb with his own as if it was a dare, hiding a grin behind his other hand.

Taeil glanced at the movement, made a little bemused-amused face, and carried on. 

Donghyuck wanted to roar. If Na fucking Jaemin did anything else - 

Na (fucking) Jaemin moved, sighing, and laid his head on Jeno’s broad shoulder. 

Taeil looked up, and stopped. “Everyone seems to be tired today, huh?” 

“Stayed up late last night on an assignment,” Jaemin said as he snuggled closer, pitiful puppy eyes on display, and Donghyuck involuntarily clenched his fists. Jaemin was up late last night, alright, but the assignment was named ‘Lee Jeno’ and it consisted of doing something that had made Donghyuck have to put on his noise-cancelling earphones in order to try to get his own _actual_ assignments done. Donghyuck watched, fascinated despite himself, as the tips of Jeno’s ears slowly turned red.

“I’m so tired already. And who puts midterms so soon after Valentine’s Day?” Jaemin complained. “We can’t even go out on a date. Do you have a date for Valentine’s, hyung?” 

“Me?” Taeil laughed. “Uh, no. I’ll be studying too, just like you.” 

“What about you, Hyuckie?” Jaemin smiled pleasantly.

Donghyuck was absolutely _murderous_. He had to hold himself back from kicking Jaemin outright under the table, if only because Taeil had turned to look at him too. 

“You know I don’t, Jaem,” Donghyuck answered through partly-gritted teeth.

“Oh, right. The two of you should go out together, then. Hyuckie hasn’t had a date in for- _ever_ ,” Jaemin laughed, and Donghyuck forced himself to keep his face neutral while he plotted Jaemin’s torture and eventual demise. “What do you say, hyung?”

“I told you I’ll be studying,” Taeil mock-scolded. “And I’m sure Hyuckie will have no end of admirers come Valentine’s.”

“I only want you, though,” Donghyuck said automatically, because by this point it would be out of character for him _not_ to say it. Taeil snorted and went back to the textbook while Jaemin continued to smirk.

“But if Hyuckie ends up not having a date, would you take pity on him and go out together? You'd date a boy, wouldn't you, hyung?”

Taeil looked up, surprised to be asked so directly. “Um, yeah. Girls and guys are both - okay. Thought you already knew that about me.” 

“I see,” Jaemin answered, eyes sparkling. “Sorry, hyung. Let’s get back to work.”

Donghyuck waited patiently until Taeil had finished going through the entire topic and checked through their practice problems, and then subsequently packed up and left to go to the bathroom before they went for their usual post-tutoring dinner together. Then Donghyuck lunged across the table and grabbed Jaemin by the shirt.

“Let me go! I was _helping_ you!” 

“Shut up! I’m gonna kill you!” 

“Boys,” Jeno began reasonably. “Fighting to the death is frowned upon in public places.”

“I’m gonna rearrange your stupid face!” 

“Help me, Jeno!” Jaemin screeched, trying to pry Donghyuck off of him while also protecting his moneymaker.

“His face is quite precious to me, Hyuck,” Jeno said in reproach. “If you need to maim him please keep it below the neck and above the waist.”

“That’s the closest you’ve ever come to actually asking him out and you know it!” Jaemin twisted out of Donghyuck’s hold and managed to wrench him into a headlock. “Did you even know he was bi?”

Donghyuck burbled something, face going red, until Jaemin released him.

“Do you honestly think I would have wasted six months pining after a straight boy?” Donghyuck demanded once he got his breath back.

“Yes,” Jeno and Jaemin said matter-of-factly.

Donghyuck opened his mouth for a smart rebuttal and found he had none. “Well, I wouldn’t have. I had a good feeling.” 

“But you didn’t know for sure, did you? Admit it. Is that why you haven’t dared make a real move yet?” 

“Because whenever a move is made he does the usual Taeil hyung thing of smiling and deflecting! Why would you want to help me, anyway?” Donghyuck groused.

“It’s lonely at the top,” Jaemin straightened his shirt and hair before turning to Jeno and winking. “Isn’t it, baby? Would be nice to have some sort of a challenge.”

Donghyuck growled, getting ready to pounce once again. He could get one last good hair-pull in before Taeil came back.

*

Donghyuck stared in horror, almost feeling the strength in his legs give out. Gasps of disbelief equal to what he was feeling deep in his heart sounded all around him, and the smile of apology the fried chicken stall ahjumma gave the rest of them in the queue as she finished hanging up the ‘sold out’ sign over the ordering counter did nothing to quell the grief in his soul.

“Again?” came Taeil’s voice full of distress from behind him. Donghyuck turned around, and found the exact same expression of hopelessness on his face mirrored on Taeil’s. It truly was destiny. They were meant to be.

“We have the worst luck,” Taeil complained as the queue dispersed sadly. “We’ve never managed to get here in time.” 

“We should swap slots,” Donghyuck gasped, the idea hitting him like a truck. “Oh my god, we are so stupid. We should come here to eat first and then go for tutoring.”

“Next week.” Taeil promised as they stood contemplatively in front of the other food stalls in the Science cafeteria. “Or do you need the time to study for your midterms?”

 _Midterms or Taeil?_ “You tutoring me _is_ helping me study,” Donghyuck beamed winningly.

“Jaemin and Jeno too?” Taeil tugged him towards the hot soups section.

“I’ll ask them. Though if they don’t come they’ll probably just stay at home doing unspeakable things to each other,” Donghyuck scowled. 

“They do seem to be… rubbing your nose in it a little,” Taeil said delicately. “Their relationship. At least Jaemin is.”

“It’s okay,” Donghyuck waved it away, annoyed at Jaemin but not enough to make Taeil think he was a bad friend. “He’s just messing with me.”

“Yeah? You sure?”

“Not that I don’t still want to kill him,” Donghyuck joked as they joined the queue. “Especially when he’s convinced they’re the cutest couple to ever exist.”

“They are pretty cute,” Taeil admitted, grinning, and Donghyuck did his best not to melt at that smile. He tried to channel Renjun’s ironheartedness. “All the matching couple items they’ve got. And they’re always holding hands and staring into each other’s eyes and stuff.”

“Don’t ever let him hear you say that,” Donghyuck begged. “Ever. Also, do you seriously find that kind of thing cute?”

Taeil shrugged. “Maybe I just miss being with someone.”

Donghyuck gulped. _Now is the time, Donghyuck. Now!!!!_

“Next!” 

Donghyuck felt like he’d been slapped upside the head as Taeil abruptly hastened to the counter and ordered his food, Donghyuck realising he hadn’t even thought about what to eat all this time as he followed behind Taeil. 

“Can’t imagine it’d be hard for you to get a date, hyung, if you wanted. Bet you’ve got a lot of people asking you out.”

Taeil looked at him, amused. “I could say the same for you. Yet here we are, right?”

“Jaemin’s right. You should just date me, then.”

“I should be so lucky,” Taeil grinned, picking up his tray and heading for the table Jaemin and Jeno were already seated at.

Donghyuck heaved a long-suffering sigh.

*

Donghyuck spent most of the hour the next tutoring session silently bemoaning the fact that he wouldn't be seeing Taeil at all for more than a week after this because of midterms. He may or may not have been paying attention to exactly _what_ Taeil was explaining to him alone but because he had been staring at Taeil’s plush mouth at the very moment when Taeil stopped talking and looked across the table to where Jeno and Jaemin were a breath away from kissing, Donghyuck looked up too and immediately went red at the sight of them wrapped up in each other. Becoming super aware of Taeil sitting bare centimetres from him - Taeil’s hands and Taeil’s lips and Taeil’s _enoughenoughenough_ \- with great relish Donghyuck reached into his bag and took out the little water mister that Renjun kept for his plants, spraying Jeno and Jaemin like they were overexcited dogs until they broke apart.

“What the _fuck?_ ” A damp Jaemin demanded, staring at the plant mister in Donghyuck’s triumphant hand.

“Knew this would come in handy around the two of you,” Donghyuck put it away and patted his bag with satisfaction, the sound of Taeil laughing until he was weak and slumped over the table pure music to his ears. “Since you insist on acting like you’re animals in heat. I’m just helping to cool you down so you can focus for our last few minutes of the session.”

Sweet Jeno chuckled along, taking out tissues from his bag to dry himself and a still-in-disbelief Jaemin.

“You actually brought Renjun’s fucking plant sprayer thing out of the house and carried it around the whole day just for this gag?”

“Now, now, Nana,” Donghyuck wagged his finger in Jaemin’s face. “Don’t get mad. You’re turning red and it’s clashing with your pink hair. Aesthetics first.”

Donghyuck took a breath to continue waxing poetic about the tomato-likeness of Jaemin’s face, Taeil wiping his eyes from laughing too hard next to him spurring him on only to be interrupted by an announcement over the PA system.

_“Hi! I’m Yeeun, the Student Union secretary, and I’m here to remind everyone that the Valentine’s Day weekend festival begins tomorrow evening at six! We’ve got a whole lot of activities lined up across campus for everyone, not just couples, so bring your friends down for a bit of fun before midterms mania hits! Don’t forget to visit the main attraction, the Love Park in the Arts quad, our cool 90’s style amusement park. See you there!”_

In hindsight, Donghyuck thought, it wasn’t the smartest thing to provoke Jaemin, as Jaemin turned to Donghyuck smiling the kind of sharp-toothed smile you usually see on predators just before they attack.

“Did you hear that, Hyuckie? You don’t have to feel bad about being alone on Valentine’s. You could bring Renjun to the festival and make an exciting evening out of trying to ignore everyone else around you who’s happily in love. As opposed to you, who… isn’t.”

“Maybe I will,” Donghyuck shot back, trying to hide how much that had stung. Damn, he’d forgotten what an incensed Jaemin was like. 

“Actually-” Taeil started, staring Jaemin down, and Donghyuck sucked in a breath when he turned and saw the serious look on his face. “You know what?” 

Taeil reached out and took Donghyuck’s hand that was resting on the table between them. “I do think I’d like to go to the festival with you, Hyuckie. Sorry for the last-minute-ness, but. That Love Park sounds kinda fun, don’t you think? Will you go with me?”

You could hear a pin drop.

“What?” Donghyuck whispered hoarsely.

“I know this is a bit sudden, but,” Taeil smiled shyly. “I’d really like to go on a date with you. Maybe we can go on Sunday evening? The actual fourteenth?”

Donghyuck blinked, and then swallowed. He glanced across the table and Jeno and Jaemin looked just as shocked as he felt.

Taeil was still holding his hand.

“Hyuckie?” Taeil prompted. “It’s okay if you don’t want to. I mean, I’m gonna be disappointed, but-”

“Sure!” Donghyuck croaked out. “Sure. Sunday is great. That’s great.”

“Oh, good,” Taeil broke into a smile. “Hey, I’ve gotta run - no dinner for me today. Should probably get in some work tonight if we’re going out on Sunday, hah. If you guys have any problems with your material you can message me, okay?” 

Taeil let go and stood up to scoop his things into his bag, leaning down briefly to affectionately press his hand to Donghyuck’s cheek.

“See you Sunday, Hyuckie.”

The door opened and closed behind him, Donghyuck feeling like someone had just poured cement all over him as well as Jeno and Jaemin for all that they were behaving exactly like petrified statues. 

“What just happened?” Jeno breathed. “Did he just-”

“He just,” Jaemin agreed, eyes wide. “Hyuckie, he just!”

_“They do seem to be… rubbing your nose in it a little,” Taeil said delicately. “Their relationship. At least Jaemin is.”_

_“It’s okay,” Donghyuck waved it away, annoyed at Jaemin but not enough to make Taeil think he was a bad friend. “He’s just messing with me.”_

_“Yeah? You sure?”_

“Oh,” Donghyuck said, faintly, feeling all the blood in his body drain into his feet. “Oh.”

“What?” Jaemin asked impatiently.

Donghyuck closed his eyes and tipped forward until his forehead hit the tabletop.

*

_\- you don’t have to bring me on a date just to make jaemin stop messing with me_

Donghyuck stopped, and erased it.

_\- thanks for that just now, hyung. we’re not actually going on a date, are we?_

Donghyuck erased that too.

_\- jaemin didn’t mean it, hyung. he already apologised to me. are we actually_

“Argh,” Donghyuck growled, frustrated. How was he supposed to do this?

A soft knock came on his bedroom door, and a meek Jaemin entered with a cup of hot milk tea he’d just made. 

“Stop making that face, I already said I forgive you,” Donghyuck took the cup, narrowly spilling some of the tea because of the way Jaemin abruptly clung onto him like a sad penitent koala.

“My mouth runs away with itself when I’m mad,” Jaemin muttered pitifully into Donghyuck’s back.

“I know,” Donghyuck said, trying to peel him off. 

“Are you really not angry with me anymore?”

“I’m not, but,” Donghyuck sighed. “I don’t know what to say to Taeil hyung. I’ve been trying to text him to say we don’t need to go on Sunday. Figures that the only date I’d ever get to go on with him would be a pity one.”

Jaemin clung tighter. “I feel so bad!”

Donghyuck, resigned to being smothered, slumped in his chair. “It’s okay, Jaem. This - this is a wakeup call. He’ll never date me for real. So I’m trying to see it as a good thing.”

“I’m so sorry,” Jaemin whispered, and he honestly sounded so devastated that Donghyuck let him cling for a little while longer.

“Okay, get off me. I need to send this message and then ignore Taeil hyung in embarrassment for the rest of my life. Also I have readings to do.” 

“Is there anything else you need?” Jaemin asked, twisting his hands. “I’ll make ramyeon for you if you’re hungry.”

“Go _away_ ,” Donghyuck told him goodnaturedly, pushing him bodily out the door. “Go do your own work. Or your boyfriend, I don’t care.”

Donghyuck closed the door and sat back down on his bed. _Okay._

_\- hyung, i thought about it and i realised what you were trying to do, asking me out on that date. it was nice of you to try to get jaemin back like that but it’s really fine. he knows he went too far and he’s been suffocating me in apologies the whole night lol. good luck for your exams (tho you don’t need it!!) and i’ll see you in vocal club in two weeks ok?_

That should do it. Donghyuck hit send and left his phone on his bed, moving to his small workdesk to open his laptop and start on his geopolitics readings. 

He’ll be okay. He’ll get over it.

*

“I can’t believe you dragged me out here with the two of you,” Donghyuck complained, stamping his feet in the February cold. “I’m sure I can’t be this big of a fool and yet every day I seem to prove myself wrong.”

“Just for a bit,” Jeno wheedled. “We’re all going crazy studying, anyway. Let’s just play a few games and eat popcorn and cotton candy till we feel sick and then we’ll go home and study some more.”

“Let’s try to win Junnie a Moomin doll,” Jaemin suggested excitedly, threading his arm through Donghyuck’s and dragging them towards a games stall. “Look, it’s almost the same size as him.”

“Speaking of Renjun, why aren’t I at home being warm _with_ him?” Donghyuck asked the empty air before digging up his loose change to buy Jaemin a turn at the ring-tossing game. 

Despite himself, Donghyuck did start to have fun. It was hard not to, out there with two of his closest friends and the license to act like kids again in the amusement park the student union had organised, 90s pop songs blasting over old-school game stalls and rides to fit the theme. It was crowded and lively, too, most students there having the same idea as them - one last hurrah before the suffering of exams took over.

However, it _was_ a Valentine’s Day festival, and the copious red and pink hearts and roses Donghyuck was surrounded by plus the fact that the 90s songs being played were 90s _love_ songs soured Donghyuck’s mood a little. Jeno and Jaemin were consciously being much less touchy and couple-y for Donghyuck’s sake, but as he walked behind them through the crowd as they strolled ahead, hand-in-hand, he couldn’t help but feel like he was intruding. 

_- > how’s thirdwheeling timon and pumbaa going?_

Donghyuck snorted at the text from Renjun right on cue, automatically smiling down at his phone.

_\- as you can expect. why aren’t you down here so you could be the fourth wheel? we could make up a whole car._

_- > no thanks lol. valentines day is for suckers._

_\- excuse you we won you a moomin plushie!!! call me a sucker again and i’m throwing it in the quad fountain._

“Guys, I think I’m gonna head back,” he called out, slipping his phone back into his coat pocket. “It’s getting too cold.”

“Let’s go on the ferris wheel first? Please? Then we can go, I promise,” Jaemin begged.

“You don’t have to leave too, I can just go-” Donghyuck began to protest, but Jeno was already dragging him towards the few rides set up at the back of the festival to join the queue for the rather impressively-sized ferris wheel.

“I don’t think the seats are meant to fit three,” Donghyuck said sardonically, watching the awkward realisation dawn on the other two as they arrived and stared up at the ride. “Give me Moomin. I’ll hold him while you two go.”

“Oh, we can just leave, it’s not important-”

“You haven’t shut up about the ferris wheel since we got here,” Donghyuck said firmly, pushing Jaemin and Jeno towards the short queue. “Go. Be disgustingly romantic.”

Donghyuck found a barricade to lean against as he hugged the Moomin toy and texted Renjun to pass the time, soon noticing that it was Jaemin and Jeno’s turn next. 

_\- they’re on the ferris wheel now. probably going to kiss at the top like jaemin has been wanting to do since he was 12._

_- > /vomiting sounds/_

Donghyuck laughed under his breath, thinking about the ten minutes or so he had to kill. Maybe he could make another swing by the food stalls -

“Thought you were staying at home to study.” 

Donghyuck looked up and his breath caught in his chest. Taeil had raised an eyebrow at him, smiling as he waved his own friends on ahead. He looked too cozy in his oversized sweater and- 

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, you’re just - you’re actually wearing jeans. I think this is probably the first time I’ve ever seen you not in shorts.”

“What?” Taeil laughed. “I don’t wear shorts all the time. I’d freeze in winter.”

Donghyuck shrugged, not really caring if he made sense or not. Taeil was so beautiful in the bright lights of the festival.

“Anyway. I could say the same for you, about studying,” Donghyuck cocked his head and felt the slow, sweet familiar heartache begin. “Weren’t _you_ going to stay home?”

“Guess we both got dragged out by our friends,” Taeil said, nodding at Jaemin’s conspicuously pink head high above them on one of the ferris wheel seats. “Is that the lovebirds?”

“Unfortunately,” Donghyuck said. “Here’s my date.” He held Moomin up, and the amused smile that stole across Taeil’s face was painfully attractive.

“He’s cute,” Taeil conceded. “I hope he’s been showing you a good time tonight.”

“He’s actually been quite the gentleman. Kept his hands to himself and everything.”

“You sound disappointed.”

“How dare you, sir,” Donghyuck pretend-gasped, and used Moomin to hit Taeil softly. “What are you implying about my virtue?”

“What virtue?”

Donghyuck hit him again, harder this time, and Taeil graciously acted like it hurt.

“Is that fun?” Taeil again looked up at the ferris wheel. “I’ve never been on one.”

“Never have I,” Donghyuck replied. “Never saw the attraction of sitting in a slowly spinning wheel in the sky.”

Taeil hummed in agreement, the both of them looking at each other for a moment. 

“Wanna go?”

“Yeah, okay,” Donghyuck laughed. “First time for everything, right?”

 _This was.. nice,_ Donghyuck thought, talking with Taeil as they waited for their turn. It was nice being Taeil’s friend, even if he couldn’t be more. Taeil was kind, and funny, and said the weirdest shit sometimes, and it hardly felt like he was talking to someone several years older and about to graduate college while he had just begun it. Taeil behaved like Donghyuck was a close same-aged friend, and Donghyuck was grateful for that warmth.

They climbed into their seat when it arrived, the staff locking the safety bar over their laps before wishing them _a romantic ride to the stars!_

“Seriously,” Donghyuck snorted as they moved off. 

“What, is this not romantic?” Taeil asked. “You and me in a rickety metal chair about to go eight storeys in the air?”

“Okay, stop that,” Donghyuck warned, feeling a little jittery. Taeil laughed softly and fell quiet, tipping his head back slightly to watch the night sky. Donghyuck tried not to watch Taeil instead, focusing his gaze upwards as well.

“There you are,” Donghyuck told him after a comfortable silence, pointing at the moon. 

“You shouldn’t point at the moon,” Taeil told him, gently pushing his hand down, Donghyuck feeling a small bittersweet pang at the contact. “There’s a superstition that says if you point at the moon you’ll have a cut behind your ear.”

“Really?” Donghyuck said, cheekily pointing at Taeil instead. “Even now?”

Taeil moved to pull Donghyuck’s ear, and Donghyuck’s dodging caused their seat to swing a little too wildly for Donghyuck’s comfort. He grabbed the safety bar and Moomin tight, face screwed up in momentary fear.

“Oh, cute,” Taeil said, and Donghyuck could hear the smile in his voice. “You’re okay, don’t worry. We’ll be fine.”

Donghyuck took deep breaths until the seat stopped swinging so much, and when he opened his eyes they were just coming into position at the top of the ferris wheel. 

“I guess this is pretty romantic,” Donghyuck admitted grudgingly, looking out over the shorter buildings of their campus. The noise and lights of the festival felt far below them; above them only the stars and the sky.

“Do you wish you were with someone else up here?” Taeil teased, smiling briefly.

“No,” Donghyuck answered simply, looking at Taeil with all the honesty he could muster. “No, I don’t.” He looked away, quickly tempering the seriousness of his statement with a big sigh. “I wish it wasn’t so fucking cold, though.”

They sat in silence, looking out over the buildings and trees and people down below. Donghyuck waved at Jaemin and Jeno, who were off the ferris wheel by now and seemed to be looking for him.

“They don't know I'm up here,” Donghyuck laughed to himself. “You’re being very quiet, hyung. What are you thinking about?”

“How I wished before I left my apartment that I was still going on that date with you tonight and - here we are.”

Donghyuck stopped waving.

“I told you you didn’t have to, hyung,” he mumbled.

“I didn’t have to. I wanted to.” 

“And it’s really nice of you to want to do that, but I told you, it’s not a big deal. Me and Jaemin just mess around with each other like that, we-” 

“No, Hyuckie,” Taeil carefully twisted in his seat to face Donghyuck. “I _wanted_ to ask you out. Maybe not exactly like that, and maybe it was a bonus that I helped get back at Jaemin for you, but. I meant it when I asked you for that date. Guess it was my fault you took it the wrong way.”

“But-” Donghyuck spluttered. “But you never respond! Whenever I tell you I like you or hold your hand and stuff you just sit there and smile like some kind of happy Buddha. You never _respond_! What do you mean you actually wanted to ask me out?!” 

“I always thought you were joking!” Taeil protested. “You say all of those things so easily and you’re generally flirty and cuddly with your own friends so how was I supposed to know if you actually meant it?”

“I don’t flirt with anyone the way I flirt with you!” Donghyuck exclaimed, aware that they were both getting quite loud but bursting with too many emotions to calm down. “I tell you I want to _marry_ you! How many people around campus do you think I’ve been proposing marriage to on a regular basis?”

“How should I know? You barely even talk to me outside of flirting so I just assumed you were having fun!”

“That’s because I don’t dare to really talk to you!” Donghyuck gestured wildly, and then grabbed the seat when it started to swing. “Oh, god - You’re perfect, Moon Taeil! You’re perfect and a senior and you sing like a fucking angel and I don’t know how the hell you’re single because you’re _perfect_ and I don’t dare to try to get closer to you when I can actually tell you to your face that I love you and all I get in return is a smile!”

Taeil stared at him. “You know how we always never make it in time to get the fried chicken after tutoring because it’s just never occurred to us to go eat first?”

“Yeah?” Donghyuck answered, heart pounding.

“We’re really stupid, Hyuckie.”

“Oh my god, just kiss, already!” 

The shout came from two seats away, making them both jump. They turned to see the occupants of both the nearest and second-nearest seats staring at them, the boyfriend of the girl who’d called out making encouraging ‘you can do it!’ gestures at them.

“Um,” Donghyuck said, mind blank. “What?”

“Come on,” one of the women closest to them said. “You two obviously like each other. How much longer are you going to make us wait?”

Donghyuck drew himself up indignantly. “We are not a primetime drama, thank you very much! Pay attention to your own partners!”

“Could’ve fooled me,” the woman retorted, turning back away from Donghyuck and Taeil. The supportive boyfriend two seats away gave them one last thumbs up before slinging his arm around his girlfriend.

Donghyuck couldn’t look at Taeil. He just couldn’t, but Taeil reached out and gently raised his head with one mittened hand under his chin.

“Do you like me, Hyuckie?” Taeil whispered, eyes bright and cheeks pink with cold.

“I think I’m in love with you,” Donghyuck replied in despair.

Taeil grinned. “Give me some time to get there too, okay? I won’t take too long.”

It was a good thing Donghyuck was still sitting down, because he felt his legs turn to jelly. 

“I think you just killed me,” he muttered. “I can’t feel my knees.”

“Can people usually feel their knees?” Taeil mused as the ferris wheel brought them down to earth again. The staff unlocked their safety bar and Taeil helped the heap of overflowing emotions formerly known as Donghyuck out onto the ground. 

“Hey,” Taeil smiled up at him once he was more or less stable.

“Hey,” Donghyuck answered weakly. 

“There you are!” Jaemin yelled from behind them. “I was going crazy! Why didn’t you answer your ph- Taeil hyung?”

“Go away, Jaem, I’m busy,” Donghyuck said, not looking away from Taeil’s happy face. 

“Oh, my god,” Jaemin said in a hushed voice, and then a pause. “Jen? Come back to the ferris wheel right now. Yes, I’ve found him. Yeah. _Hurry._ You don’t want to miss this.”

“So,” Taeil wrapped his arms around Donghyuck’s waist. “You can tell me the truth now. Do you actually need tutoring in math?”

Donghyuck gulped. “Yes...?”

Taeil gave him a Look. 

“Okay, no. Renjun just asked you to tutor us so that I could spend more time with you.”

“Knew it. Renjun seems like a good friend.”

“Yeah, but he’s going to be furious that now he’s going to have to put up with two couples instead of just one.”

“Two couples, huh? Who’s the other one?” 

“You know,” Donghyuck beamed, feeling so happy he could float all the way back up to the moon that had birthed this wonderful man and given him to Donghyuck. “Jeno and Jaemin, and then me and my boyfriend.”

“Who’s that?” Taeil asked innocently, eyes twinkling before Donghyuck bent to press a chaste but fervent first kiss to his lips. 

“Did you get that?” Donghyuck heard Jaemin ask urgently, and when Donghyuck turned to see what he was up to both him and Jeno quickly hid their phones behind their backs. 

“Oh, please don’t stop on our account,” Jaemin grinned. “Hi, Taeil hyung.” Jeno waved excitedly with his free hand. Taeil waved happily back.

“We confessed to each other on top of a ferris wheel on Valentine’s Day,” Donghyuck called out to Jaemin. “I think the ‘cutest couple on campus’ title officially belongs to us now.”

“For now,” Jaemin shrugged, still smiling. “It will be my pleasure to do battle with you, Hyuckie.”

“You’re on,” Donghyuck said, before turning back to a glowing Taeil. “The pleasure’s all mine.”

*

**Author's Note:**

> (hyuck drops and forgets renjun's moomin while he's on the ferris wheel bc bamboozled by taeil's confession. renjun murders him when he gets home despite his cries for mercy. rip)
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/haetsalmoonbit) / [cc](https://t.co/wABa3kxW2p?amp=1)


End file.
